Pennsylvania Tourist Attractions
1001 Vacation Ideas

You choose the things that go onto it and then watch it being made. You can even design your own wrapper. Adjacent to the Park is Zoo America with hundreds of North American species just waiting to be appreciated by you.

At Zoo America the animals are the show. You’ll see alligators, lizards, crocodiles, porcupines, mountain lions, bobcats, bears and wolves plus many others.

The neat thing is that with your park ticket you can visit the zoo several times. You’ll find that in Hershey Park and Zoo America there is something to entertaining every age in the family.

For the uniformed a present day renaissance faire is a recreation of a 16th Century English festival including period dress-up characters who all speak in the manner of the period.

The mood is always upbeat and gay with many activities of the period. One of the most outstanding games and the one most watched is the brilliantly choreographed jousting matches. The whole cast of performers put great enthusiasm into their work. You can easily believe that you are back in merry old England.

The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire goes one step beyond their competition by adding elephant rides and demonstrations of falconry.

Where else can you enjoy a complete meal of roasted turkey leg, swashed down with a bit of ale and not feel guilty. It has been rumored that this fair has been honored for its high level of entertainment value.

Historians all agree that the Battle of Gettysburg was the Civil War’s turning point. The victory by the Union Army in 1863 stopped General Lee's assault into Northern territory. It is frequently called the "High Water Mark of the Rebellion".

Be sure to start your visit at the Visitor Center. This center is also a museum which has a very large collection of Civil War mementos plus many interactive programs and some excellent multi-media displays. The center also shows the film, "A New Birth of Freedom". It’s twenty minutes long and the well known actor Morgan Freeman narrates it.

The center also has the Gettysburg Cyclorama, which is a huge, dramatic in-the-round painting of "Pickett's Charge". There is a Resource Room in the museum with a bank of computers where you can research questions regarding the battle and check on soldiers who served at Gettysburg.

The Zoo provides a home to more than four hundred species which adds up to thousands of animals. There is a Kids Kingdom where the kids can get up close with reptiles, small animals and more.

The children’s section has been ranked as one of the top three children’s zoos in the country. Some of their animals that are favorites with the visitors are gorillas, orangutans, elephants, leopards and tigers.

The zoo and the aquarium sit on 77 acres so there is plenty of room for all. The PPG Aquarium has a Pennsylvania Waters Exhibit that flows by the building with water falling into a pool of fish. They also have a 100.000 gallon tank which is home to sharks and fish of many types.

The Two Oceans exhibit features a special window with allows you a close up look at the swimming creatures. They also have a transparent stingray tunnel which allows children to crawl through and see the stingrays and other fish very clearly.

The frosting on the cake is a 25-acre arboretum. The museum also provides educational programs for children, adults and families plus an annual cultural festival. The galleries feature a variety of artifacts such as classic art, armor and samples of the culture of Native Americans. Their Planetarium is well used for teaching the science of the stars to both adults and children.

The following are some of the family activities that are sponsored by the museum. They periodically have a full day of planned fun for the whole family. In the summer they organize Yoga sessions for personal development.

They have a very popular Lecture series. Thursday is story time for the kids with the addition of hands-on activity and with parents invited. The popular Sunday morning breakfast and music series will start up again in October.

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